Judy Jenkins worked as a high school teacher of English, a reading specialist at the middle and high school levels, a middle and high school administrator, a Middle School Principal, an Instructional Director for K – 12, and Director of Middle Schools for a large suburban district.
As a teacher of English, Judy taught students who lacked basic reading skills as well as students who were in the honors program. She teamed with teachers across the content areas to help high school students who lacked the necessary reading skills to be successful in basic high school classes. Upon receiving her reading specialist certification, Judy was assigned to schools to 1) provide professional development for comprehension, vocabulary and writing strategies; 2) provide demonstration lessons in content reading; and 3) to coach classroom teachers as they began using the strategies.
After receiving her administration/supervision certificate, she worked as an assistant principal and then as a principal in a variety of middle and high schools with challenging populations with lagging achievement scores. Because of her successes, Judy was promoted to the Central Office to serve as Director of Instruction and then as Director of Middle Schools. In each role she fostered changes in teaching and in programs that resulted in increased student test scores that surpassed those of other buildings and other districts.
Currently
she consults with the Southern Regional Education Board to provide technical
assistance to middle and high schools using the Making Middle Grades Work and High
Schools That Work framework.